Co-delivery of siRNA and hypericin into cancer cells by hyaluronic acid modified PLGA-PEI nanoparticles

Abstract

Context: Malignant tumors cause more death because of the resistance of the hypoxic cancer cell toward radiotherapy. Targeting for hypoxic cancer area and gene silencing to overcome the hypoxia are two kinds of important therapeutic strategies for treating tumors.

Objective: In order to explore the combined effects of gene therapy and hypericin (Hy) on tumor cells, hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α) small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) was transfected into the hypoxic human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (CNE2) cells using Hy-encapsulated nanocomplexes (Hy-HPP NPs) as a carrier which would achieve dual targeting to the tumor necrosis area.

Materials and methods: NPs were prepared by emulsion–diffusion–evaporation method. Formulations were evaluated by conducting in vitro physicochemical studies, electrophoresis, in vivo study, and biochemical studies.

Results and discussions: Hy-loaded nanoparticles with a mean size of around 160 nm was able to enhance the accumulation in the tumors by enhanced permeability and retention effect. The electrophoresis confirmed the good stability of siRNA/Hy-HPP NPs in the presence of phosphate-buffered saline (pH 7.4), competitive heparin, and RNase. The results of transfection showed that the uptake of siRNA was significantly increased up to 50% in CNE2 cells. The level of the HIF-1α with Hy-encapsulated nanocomplexes was significantly reduced to 30% in the transfected CNE2 cells. In vivo studies, the carrier exhibited higher intensity at the tumor tissue cells and higher affinity toward the necrotic tumor tissue.

Conclusion: Results demonstrated that Hy-HPP NPs could significantly enhance the tranfection efficiency of siRNA, suggesting Hy-encapsulated nanoparticle as an efficient gene carrier. The co-delivery of HIF-1α siRNA (siHIF-1α) and Hy could efficiently decrease the level of HIF-1α and increase the affinity toward necrotic tissues. Hence, this is a promising strategy for further application in radiotherapy.

• Co-delivery
• HIF-1α
• hyaluronic acid
• hypericin
• siRNA
• targeted delivery

Declaration of interest

The authors report no declarations of interest. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Funds for Young Scholars (81201182), the Doctoral Fund of Youth Scholars of Ministry of Education of China (20130096120003), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities for cultivation project (JKPZ2013006).